Human rights lawyer Alka Pradhan has represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay. She tells Planet America that many of them have nothing to do with “hostilities against America” and describes the situation as an “ongoing humanitarian crisis”

Roger Stone, a former political adviser to US President Donald Trump, is ordered to appear in court over Instagram posts calling Robert Mueller a "Deep State hitman" and depicting the judge in his criminal trial alongside the crosshairs of a gun.

The California Attorney-General says the lawsuit will use Donald Trump's own words against him as evidence there is no national emergency to declare as the US President's battle to build a wall on the Mexican border rumbles on.

The US President fires off a series of furious tweets after an American 60 Minutes interview with former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, in which he says talks were held about removing Donald Trump from office.

At age 29, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest-ever congresswoman, routinely making headlines, growing her following and becoming a rising force in politics — all using media tactics that look a lot like Donald Trump's, writes Emily Olson.

Saying there's "an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people" at the southern border, US President Donald Trump makes official his declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for his border wall.

As far as Thursdays go in Washington, February 14 is nothing to sneeze at. Donald Trump's set to avert a government shutdown and declare a national emergency, which could be a precedent-setting moment in US politics, writes Zoe Daniel.

Andrew McCabe becomes the first public official involved to publicly confirm the US Department of Justice held meetings to discuss the option of removing Donald Trump in the days after the President fired FBI director James Comey.

Donald Trump will declare a national emergency on the US-Mexico border, the White House confirms, while also signing a compromised deal for government funding that is well short of his initial demands.

The damaging political scandals involving blackface and sexual assault allegations in Virginia are reminding the state of its history of racist division, as well as making life tougher for the large number of Democrats hoping to challenge US President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, writes James Glenday.

US President Donald Trump says North Korea will someday become "a great Economic Powerhouse" under leader Kim Jong-un, heaping praise on the dictator while announcing the location of the pair's next summit.

Federal prosecutors issue a subpoena seeking documents from Donald Trump's inaugural committee, furthering a federal inquiry into a fund that has faced mounting scrutiny into how it raised and spent its money.

One analyst says the US President's State of the Union address will be a chance for him to reset the agenda heading into the 2020 elections, but a sudden surge of bipartisanship seems like a stretch, writes Zoe Daniel.

The US will formally withdraw from the INF Treaty if Moscow does not end its alleged violation of the pact, which prevents the two superpowers from possessing, producing or test-flying ground-launched nuclear cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

The US President says he will meet with his Chinese counterpart soon to try to seal a comprehensive trade deal, as Mr Trump and his top trade negotiator both cite substantial progress in two days of high-level talks.

The White House press secretary tells the Christian Broadcasting Network that Donald Trump is the most conservative president in US history, and says calling the border wall with Mexico immoral is "ridiculous".

Donald Trump's Twitter tirade comes a day after top US intelligence chiefs contradicted the President's comments on Iran, North Korea, the status of Islamic State in Syria, and the threat of Russia to US elections.

Acting US Attorney-General Matthew Whitaker becomes the first top Government official to publicly confirm that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is in the final stages of investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The US President was forced into a corner over the shutdown by Nancy Pelosi, but her victory in the State of the Union battle is just one in the bigger war, writes the ABC's Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel.

Sarah-Jayne is one of dozens of ADF members who've transitioned gender since Australia lifted its ban on trans personnel. As Trump extends the US's ban, there's lessons from Australia's experience, writes Noah Riseman.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's speedy rise to prominence seems like the script of a 1990s romantic comedy. With her socialist leanings and media savvy, she's a tonic for the left and a pariah for the right, writes Micheline Maynard.

Ms Harris, a first-term US senator and former California attorney-general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds.

Rudy Giuliani says the US President may have pursued a business deal to erect a tower bearing his name in Moscow as late as October or November in 2016, just months before his famous election victory over Hillary Clinton.

Urging US President Donald Trump to delay pulling troops out of Syria until Islamic State is destroyed, Senator Lindsay Graham warns that leaving too early could see a repeat of the volatility in Iraq.

US President offers a compromise plan to break the "logjam" in Congress over the border wall, including legislative relief for "Dreamer" migrants and offering $US800 million in urgent humanitarian assistance.

Two years ago this weekend millions of American women took to the streets to protest against Donald Trump. As we approach the halfway point of Trump's term, Emily Olson and Zoe Daniel ask how things have changed.

With a stroke of his pen, and a tweet by his press secretary, President Donald Trump smashed the travel plans of his Democratic rival Nancy Pelosi, revealing plenty about both, writes Micheline Maynard.

The Democratic Speaker of the House writes to the US President asking him to delay his annual address to the nation or submit it in writing, expressing doubt there would be adequate security during the partial government shutdown.

There is speculation that the President's daughter is among the names thrown into the mix to replace Jim Yong Kim. But to score the role she'd need at least 50 per cent of the Bank's leadership's support, writes Mike Callaghan.

William Barr, who is expected to be approved as the US's top law enforcement officer, says he would not bow to political pressure to undercut Robert Mueller's investigation into possible links between the President's election campaign and Moscow.

One of several scenarios could play out before we see an end to the longest partial US Government shutdown in history. In the meantime, Donald Trump and his Democratic rivals are drawing battlelines for the 2020 presidential election, writes James Glenday.

The National Congress of American Indians condemns the US President for invoking one of the worst native massacres in the nation's history to poke fun at Democrat Elizabeth Warren over her purported Native American heritage.

Canadian air traffic controllers buy hundreds of pizzas for their American counterparts at airports throughout the United States in what has become an industry-wide show of support during the US Government's partial shutdown.

US President Donald Trump avoids directly answering the question put to him by Jeanine Pirro, a personal friend at Fox News, after a report said law enforcement officials — concerned about his behaviour after he fired FBI director James Comey — began investigating the possibility.

Texas Democrat Julian Castro formally announces his White House bid, making him the first Hispanic in what looks to be a crowded field of candidates vying to challenge President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.

Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard announces she is running for president in 2020, with the 37-year-old congresswoman set to court controversy over her meeting Bashar al-Assad in Syria and her anti-interventionist foreign policy positions.

Roger Sewani concedes not everyone likes Donald Trump, but the President's election win has been "absolutely brilliant" for business at his store in Trump Tower, where foreign tourists clamour for Trump-themed souvenirs to take home.

The US President flies to the Texas border with Mexico to try to bolster his case for a wall, flanked by tearful family members of people killed by illegal immigrants, and by border patrol agents who are not being paid during the shutdown.

The US Secretary of State delivers a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration's Middle East policies, denouncing what he says was misguided and wishful thinking that diminished America's role in the region.

Beijing announces it has deployed intermediate ballistic missiles to the country's north-west region, saying the weapons have the capacity to destroy US ships entering disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Like a year seven student writing his first persuasive piece for English class, Donald Trump threw out "facts" and "statistics" yesterday to add authority to his case. As usual, he sent the fact-checkers into overdrive, writes Emma Shortis.

The allegation marks the first time prosecutors have accused Mr Trump's chief campaign aide of sharing information related to the election with his Russian contacts. The information was accidentally revealed in a defence filing that was meant to be redacted.

US President Donald Trump uses a nationally televised address to once again pitch his concept of a border wall between the United States and Mexico, without taking the extreme step of declaring a national emergency.

A Russian lawyer who became a focal point of the investigation into whether there was collusion between Russians and President Donald Trump's election campaign is charged with obstruction of justice in an unrelated case.

As Donald Trump prepares to make a prime-time national address tomorrow, the White House looks into the legality of declaring a national emergency to circumvent Congress and begin construction of the wall along the Mexico border.

The US President says the wall bordering Mexico could be made of steel instead of concrete as a potential compromise with Democrats, who are refusing to fund the project as a government shutdown drags on.

US President Donald Trump is considering declaring a national emergency to get a wall built on the southern border of the US, after a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House to discuss the Government shutdownfailed to reach an agreement.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has just thrown her hat in the ring. Then there's talk of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And what about Michelle Obama and Kanye West? The list of potential challengers is crowded.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal firebrand who has taken on Wall Street and has been mockingly called 'Pocahontas' by Donald Trump, announces she is seeking to challenge the Republican President in 2020.

In a small, impoverished village called Yalambojoch in western Guatemala, villagers and the family of Felipe Gomez Alonzo mourn the death of eight-year-old who tried to cross into the US with his father.

US President Donald Trump's first trip to a combat zone may have been shrouded in secrecy, but aviation enthusiasts were still able to track Air Force One on its flight to Iraq — to the concern of military veterans.

US President Donald Trump announces that Deputy Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan will take on the role on an acting basis from January 1, with a senior White House official claiming the move was sparked by Mr Trump's anger at General James Mattis's resignation letter.

Brett McGurk joins Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in an exodus of experienced national security figures from the Trump administration, saying in his resignation letter that Islamic State militants were on the run, but not yet defeated.

Amid the US Government's partial shutdown and a slew of other distracting storylines, Australians and the rest of the international community should remain focused on James Mattis's departure, writes James Glenday.

The House and the Senate adjourns without a deal on spending, guaranteeing a partial shutdown of the US Government over President Donald Trump's demand for billions of dollars for his long-promised Mexican border wall.

In his resignation letter Jim Mattis says the US needs to show respect to allies, while remaining "unambiguous" with countries like Russia and China, adding the President should have a defence secretary with views more aligned to his own.

Rejecting criticism over his decision to withdraw about 2,000 troops from Syria and up-end a central pillar of US policy in the Middle East, Donald Trump says the United States was doing the work of other countries with little in return.

Speaking at his annual news conference, the Russian President says nuclear tensions "could lead to the destruction of civilisation as a whole", says Western countries are antagonising Russia and paints himself as the world's protector.

The US Senate is set to vote on whether Ireland will be added to a visa program currently only open to Australians, which lets up to 10,500 recipients live and work in the US and is much easier and less expensive to obtain than work visas.

America's youngest elected member of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, says she needs some time off to relax before being sworn into Congress next year. But critics on social media say she's being lazy.

The Trump administration bans the high-power gun attachments of the type used in last year's Las Vegas shooting massacre of 58 people, giving the owners of "bump stocks" 90 days to turn in or destroy the devices and blocking owners from being able to register them.

A US judge tells the retired army lieutenant general that his lying to FBI investigators was abhorrent, and delays sentencing to ensure Mr Flynn cooperates fully with an investigation into possible collusion between Donald Trump's election campaign and Russia.

Two Canadians detained on December 10 face a tense period of interrogation, a former ambassador to the country says, with experts claiming they have been taken "hostage" by Beijing in retaliation to the arrest of a key Huawei executive.

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to prison this week over campaign finance and other charges, says he "gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty".

Senators deliver back-to-back votes against Saudi Arabia and a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump's response to the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, signalling new scepticism from Capitol Hill toward the longtime Middle East ally.

Troops from the two Koreas cross over the world's most heavily armed border and exchange pleasantries as they verify that a number of each other's guard posts have been removed — a symbolic gesture lauded as "unimaginable in the past".

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is jailed for three years for his role in making illegal hush-money payments to women to help Mr Trump's 2016 election campaign, and for lying to Congress.

In an Oval Office interview with Reuters, US President Donald Trump says he is standing by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but that he is open to ending US support in the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen.

The US President engages in a heated exchange with the top two Democrat representatives in front of the media at an Oval Office meeting about funding for his border wall, threatening a Government shutdown if he does not get his way.

For the first time, a Russian is behind bars for attempting to influence the US 2016 presidential campaign. And with that, the Mueller investigation is inching closer to the question of collusion, writes Michael Vincent.

Maria Butina is a Trump supporter and brags about being able to use her political connections to help people find work in his administration but it is unknown if she can shed light on contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia.

Top House Democrats say impeachment or prison time are real possibilities for the US President if it is proved he directed illegal hush money payments to women, adding to the legal pressure on him over the Russia investigation and other scandals.

The US President stokes more controversy after a Twitter outburst, attacking French President Emmanuel Macron over environmental policies which Donald Trump says are fuelling the country's "yellow vest" protests.

The FBI began investigating four Americans connected to Donald Trump in July 2016, seeking to learn whether they helped Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential election, according to the bureau's former director.

US President Donald Trump announces John Kelly will leave his job amid an expected West Wing reshuffling reflecting a focus on the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats reclaiming control of the House.

Donald Trump blasts former secretary of state Rex Tillerson in a sharply critical tweet, a day after the nation's former top diplomat publicly recounted that the President had tried to do things in a way that violated the law.

In another senior staff shake-up inside his often turbulent administration, President Donald Trump says he has picked the two people he wants to be the next US attorney-general and the next US ambassador to the United Nations.

Once dismissed as an "angry black woman", Michelle Obama details the journey from working class Chicago to the White House in her new book, and shoots down the notion that working women can have it all, writes Micheline Maynard.

Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team have managed to remain remarkably tight-lipped about the sprawling Russia probe, but some experts believe the long-running investigation could finally be reaching its end game.

Donald Trump's former campaign and national security adviser lied to the FBI during the early stages of the investigation into Russian election interference, but Robert Mueller has praised his cooperation since then.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's office is calling Michael Flynn's cooperation with its investigation "substantial" and is recommending no prison time for the former Trump administration national security adviser.

Donald Trump started December in much the same way that he has behaved during every other month: with a storm of tweets. But to the relief of many Americans, a change may be on the way, writes Micheline Maynard.

ABC News on Messenger launched with the US election in 2016. Two years on and with a growing audience, 'Pete from Washington' reported on the midterm elections in a style tailored to the platform that's very different to traditional news coverage.

Meeting with Australia's leader at the G20 Summit in Argentina, the US President gets a personal explanation of events that led to him meeting Scott Morrison as Prime Minister — not the man he has been used to meeting at the White House, in New York and at world summits for the last two years.

President Donald Trump says a pardon for Paul Manafort is "not off the table", drawing a swift rebuke from critics who fear the President will use his executive power to protect friends and supporters caught up in the Russia probe.

Donald Trump dubbed Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary" and repeatedly said she belonged in jail for her use of a private email server — but Ivanka Trump insists there's "no equivalency to what my father's spoken about" in her own case.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is backed up by Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, saying the US has "no smoking gun" that the Saudi Crown Prince was involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The one-time Donald Trump campaign adviser, who claims Alexander Downer and the Australian Government spied on him, fails in his bid to avoid jail after pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

The US President says he has given troops the authority to use lethal force if necessary and that the border could be shut for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines that its southern ally has lost "control" on its side.

Turkey dismisses comments from Donald Trump on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul as "comic", as the US leader takes his public praise of Saudi Arabia further by publicly thanking the country for plunging oil prices.

US President Donald Trump mercilessly taunted Hillary Clinton over her use of a personal email account while she was secretary of state. Now his daughter and White House adviser is facing similar accusations. Here's the backstory.

In a speech to the Obama Foundation summit in Chicago, the former president declares America is being held back "because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism and mommy issues".

Seventeen people have been sanctioned over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but if the Saudi leadership was testing just what it could get away with, murder is now on the list, writes Zoe Daniel.

Despite admitting Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince may have known of plans to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Donald Trump says the US will remain a "steadfast partner" of the kingdom and won't be cancelling any military contracts.

A judge temporarily blocks an order by US President Donald Trump that barred asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico — the latest courtroom defeat for Mr Trump on immigration policy.

Echoing behaviour that led Donald Trump to call for Hillary Clinton to be jailed, the US President's daughter — a top White House adviser — has reportedly sent hundreds of emails about government business from a personal email account.

US President Donald Trump says he "very easily" completed his written answers for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 US election, but that his lawyers still have them.

A federal judge in Washington is ordering the Trump administration to immediately return the White House press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta, temporarily restoring his access while the case is pending.

With negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington appearing to have stalled, state media reports the North Korean leader has visited the test site of a new tactical weapon, hailing it as a "display of our rapidly-growing defence capabilities".

US broadcaster Fox News backs arch-rival CNN in its lawsuit against the White House for revoking the press credentials of one of its Washington correspondents after a fiery clash with the President last week.

In five posts sent on the same day France marked the anniversary of the 2015 terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, Donald Trump blasts the key US ally over its near-defeat to Germany in two world wars, its wine industry and the French President's approval ratings.

CNN files a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the revocation of press credentials for White House correspondent Jim Acosta, whose questions and reporting have been a frequent target of criticism by President Donald Trump.

The prospect of Hillary Clinton taking on Donald Trump again may strike fear into the hearts of many Democrats, but anyone who tells you with confidence who the 2020 nominee will be is either naive or brave — or both, writes Stephanie March.

US Democrats threaten to subpoena Acting Attorney-General Matthew Whittaker if he maintains oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying his appointment by President Donald Trump is "is simply part of an attack on the investigation".

Florida will hold a machine recount of votes in its neck-and-neck races for the US Senate and Governor, officials said, setting up a days-long wait for closure in two of the most closely-watched contests of the midterm elections.

The former first lady's upcoming memoir describes the struggle she and her husband Barack Obama faced to conceive their daughters, and how Donald Trump's "bigotry and xenophobia" put her family's "safety at risk".

The White House press secretary — who is upfront in accusing media of sharing "fake news" — tweets a video which analysts claim contains extra frames to make it appear Jim Acosta struck a female intern.

On Tuesday, voters who once elected Barack Obama as President woke up from their 24-month nightmare, and found many other Americans also want a return to civility, inclusiveness and the wise use of taxpayers' money, writes Micheline Maynard.

US bureau chief Zoe Daniel was sitting three metres from Jim Acosta during the press conference which saw the CNN man banned from the White House. It was an extraordinary stand-off, even by 2018 standards.

Democrats did well at the midterms, taking the House and opening the way for a check and balance on a volatile President. But Americans did not reject Donald Trump. If Democrats want to win the 2020 election they're going to have to stop expecting voters to suddenly repudiate him, writes Zoe Daniel.

Donald Trump sacks his Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, one day after the Republicans lose control of Congress and in the wake of unrelenting criticism from the President over Mr Sessions' decision to step away from the Russia election-meddling probe.

CNN's Jim Acosta has his press pass revoked after clashing with Donald Trump in a fiery exchange which saw him accused of "placing his hands" on a young female aide — an accusation Acosta says is a "lie".

She's considered Kanye West's one-time political whisperer, but Candace Owens — founder of the #Blexit campaign — is living proof that being a Black Republican in Trump's America pays, writes Denise Clay.

Riding a blue wave of dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Democrats look posed to gain over 30 Republican-held seats in the US House of Representatives and severely slow the President's political agenda.

As voters set off for the polls, Facebook blocks more than 100 accounts for suspected "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" linked to foreign groups attempting to interfere in the midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in the US Congress and shape Donald Trump's presidency.

The Republican candidate in Georgia's governor's race, who also oversees the state's elections, accuses Democrats of trying to hack voter registration systems, a move analysts say highlights the inherent conflict between his twin roles.

When Donald Trump last week suggested he could and would end birthright citizenship by executive decree, the sensible reaction was to ignore his statement as the election stunt that it is. But, upon reflection, I kept returning to what I teach in my American legal history unit, writes Thomas J. Adams.

Virtually every politically relevant indicator points to the Democrats winning a majority of seats in the US House of Representatives next week, but the Republicans have a powerful card in their hand, writes Simon Jackman.

A video showing the menacing smile of an immigrant who murdered two US police officers is taking central stage in Donald Trump's closing midterm election argument about immigration — a move critics immediately denounced as a racist campaign tactic.

The midterm elections are less than a week away, and there's a battle between Republicans and Democrats to convince voters to get to the polls. In a country with non-compulsory voting, here's what's motiving Americans to get to the ballot box.

A deployment of 15,000 troops would bring the military commitment on the border to roughly the same level as in war-torn Afghanistan, and would more than double the number of people thought to be in the caravans.

Three weeks after a bizarre White House meeting with US President Donald Trump where he said the Republican leader made him feel 'like a superhero', rapper Kanye West says he is distancing himself from politics.

The US military will deploy more than 5,200 troops, including armed soldiers, to bolster President Donald Trump's efforts to secure the border with Mexico as a caravan of migrants treks toward the frontier, a senior US general says.

Party identities are the clearest they have been in modern American politics with Republicans and Democrats locked in a bitter war. Caught in the middle, American voters will front the ballot box on November 6 in a different way to usual, writes Micheline Maynard.